Friday, July 29, 2005

Elephant

From: "Wendell Huffman"

... there was "seeing the Elephant", which referred in general to
taking on a monumental project, and specifically to looking for gold
in the California Gold Rush. The first locomotive in California was
appropriately called "Elephant." I have wondered whether Nast's
elephant for the Republican party derived from the somewhat earlier
term (which – according to a version dating from the Gold Rush
itself, came from the spectacle of a theater elephant animated by a
couple stage hands who happened to be sharing a bottle inside the
elephant suit until they finally staggered off the stage into the
orchestra pit to the delight of the audience).